


Nervous Confession

by Aithilin



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Military Service, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Canon, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29962305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/pseuds/Aithilin
Summary: Prompto had never really been good with words when he needed them. Not when he was already nervous about this confession.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	Nervous Confession

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted at my Tumblr

The quiet halls of the luxury apartments was not a place for a young man to have a nervous breakdown, but Prompto liked to think that he never did obey the rules of convention anyway. And in pacing out here, where the carpet absorbed the sounds of his steps as he wandered back and forth in front of Noctis’ door, he could pretend for a while longer that everything was normal.

“Hey,” Prompto hated rehearsing like this. Pacing in a quiet hallway, phone in hand as he struggles for words. He hadn’t felt the need to practise what he wanted to say or reach for words and concepts since leaving the debate club at school. “No… Buddy?”

He hadn’t felt this nervous about anything to do with Noctis since he was invited that one time to have lunch with the King of Lucis (which had been delightful and surprisingly casual, but Prompto still recalled spending an hour freaking out in the parlour afterwards when the King had excused himself to take care of something no doubt far more important than a lunch spent entertaining him), and almost never when dealing directly with Noctis. But now, the twist of anxiety had fully knotted his stomach in ways that meeting the freaking King of Lucis never managed. 

Every time he steeled himself to open the door, his resolve crumbled and he realized how pitiful the words rolling through his head really sounded. 

“Hey, Noct,” hands closed over his phone as he tried again, “remember when I said I didn’t know what to do after school? No, that’s dumb.”

He wondered why he hadn’t practised more at home, or through text. Was this something that could be said over text? He supposed it must be. People probably did it all the time. 

At the very least, he might be able to text and bail…

If Noctis hadn’t opened the door and given him that confused, curious look. “What are you doing, you nerd? Get in here. Iggy made sushi.”

There was a moment where Prompto just wanted to be ushered inside like always, pulled into some game or talk about a new comic. He just wanted everything to be normal and untarnished by the decisions he had already made and acted on. 

“I joined the Crownsguard.”

It was blurted out before he had even taken a step toward the open door. 

The confession hung in the hallway between them, and a million little gripes Prompto remembered from Noctis’ tirades against the stiff and unforgiving military branch that had seemed so intent on ruining their fun. He remembered the look of utter disdain for even Gladio in uniform, showing up to drag them away from some arcade or lunch at some out of the way place. He remembered the way Noctis had seemed to hate the way the soldiers assigned to him had towered over him like shadows when both Gladio and Ignis were away and there was no moving the stern-faced men and women who had looked over Prompto with their own unimpressed silence until Noctis snapped at them. 

“Really?” Noctis didn’t sound angry, or disappointed. Not in a way that Prompto expected, at least. 

“Really,” Prompto nodded, not sure if he should take a step in to join his friend in the apartment too. What if Noctis disapproved? What if it stuck between them like some thorn, as if Prompto would be like those stone-faced soldiers who only hung around because it was their job?

Noctis dragged him into the apartment with an arm around his shoulder, and an accusatory point at both Ignis and Gladio; “Alright, which one of you got to Prompto first?”

Gladio offered a smirk and a beer on his way past to claim the familiar corner of the sofa Prompto always seemed to see him in; “Didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but got a call as a reference for the pipsqueak.”

“You did?”

“I did, as well,” Ignis said, his knife moving cleanly through the roll he was finishing up; “Would you mind getting the plates, Prompto? Noctis seems to have gotten distracted.”

“You could have told me! When was all this?”

Prompto let himself breathe at the reaction, “Last week. I… uh… sort of didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Dude!” Noctis released Prompto to the room, the sulk already on his lips; “You guys should have told me. We could have planned something better than sushi.”

“Like what?” Ignis asked, tip of the knife already pointed at the Prince; “Because, if I recall, you have already decided that sushi was the celebratory meal of choice.”

“You know what I mean. Like a party or something. Do you have to go to that stupid academy Gladio went to?”

“That’s cadets,” Gladio grumbled, book already in hand, “And it wasn’t stupid. It was school.”

“I think,” Prompto wasn’t sure if the reaction was good or bad as he gathered the plates for Ignis. He had expected that disdain he had seen from Noctis before, that frustration and complaint that the security detail when Gladio wasn’t around was somehow an annoyance; “I just show up at the training grounds? That big place on the other side of the river, right?”

“Yeah, Iggy will take you there.”

“How nice to know I’ve been volunteered,” Ignis muttered, taking the plates with a smile, “Thank you, Prompto. We’ll get you sorted out.”

“You’re really okay with this, Noct? You don’t mind that I-”

“Joined these two assholes? No,” Noctis had returned to his game, settling in the middle of the living room floor; “But I’m absolutely bugging you about the uniform.”


End file.
